IDRC Vs. NHRA
Round One
Who's winning the battle between the IDRC and NHRA? On the weekend of April 13 and 14, the two sanctioning bodies ran events in direct competition with one another for the first time during 2002. Where did the racers show up? Where did the fans show up? Here are the self-reported official estimates from each sanctioning body.
| | IDRC | NHRA |
| Event | O'Reilly Auto Parts | BFGoodrich NHRA |
| | Lone Star National | Sport Compact Nationals |
| Location | San Antonio | Gainesville, Fla. |
| Fan Attendance | 3,816 | 5,000 |
| No. of Racers | 141 | 180 |
Why was one event favored more than another? Any idea we put forward here would be pure conjecture, but there are probably just as many reasons for attending or not attending events as there are racers and fans.
Question Of The Month
OK, you've seen photos of Craig Paisley's Tundra/Tacoma/Whatever (p.42) and maybe even watched it run at an event. The question is:
Does Paisley's truck indicate sport compact racing is headed in the right direction?
Maybe you think there's roomin import racing for V8-powered machines with tube frames and replica bodies. Or maybe you think the NHRA's and IDRA's Pro Classes are doomed to become as unimportant and insignificant as Pro Stock is in the regular-strength NHRA. Sure they've got DOHC heads and four-valves per cylinder, but so does a Mustang Cobra. Do we want to see Mustangs at sport compact events? Or BMW M5s? Or Mercedes CLK55s?
E-mail us your reactions to this provocative question at sccnews@mcmullenargus.com. Be daring, be bold and write amusingly-don't bore us. We'll publish the best answers in a future issue.
Toyota Pro Celebrity Race
In a blow to the tissue-thin egos of male celebrities everywhere, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Dara Torres spanked the field of the 2002 Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race at April's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Torres qualified first for the event and led all 10 laps of the 1.968-mile street circuit. All drivers were in identical Celica GT-S coupes with celebrity participants getting a 30-second head start on pro drivers.
"It was just a perfect race," Torres said to the Associated Press with penetrating insight. Finishing just behind Torres were pro drivers Danica Patrick, Tommy Kendall and Sarah Fisher. In fifth place was the next celebrity, Christopher Masterson of TV's "Malcolm in the Middle." Dule Hill of "The West Wing" was sixth and Christopher Titus of "Titus" finished seventh. We can't figure out who some of the "celebrities" in the race were (Who the Hell is Dave Pasant? Or Jacob Young?), but Patrick Stewart, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," finished 14th overall. His Celica was stuck on impulse all afternoon. Next year, they ought to make it an all-girl event... and make them stop and mud wrestle between laps five and six.